Frank Luntz - cunning linguist
Ever wonder where Steve and his merry band of f**kwits get some of their creepier ideas and methods? Just how could a Canadian political party sound and act so downright American, besides being one third of the Tres Diablos and learning at the knee of the least popular and possibly most reviled president in modern US history? Enter Frank Luntz, the communications equivalent of an arms dealer. Link
Luntz has earned the reputation of a man who not only reads the political tea leaves, but transforms that reading into a winning message. "Frank Luntz is the Republican Party's undisputed master of right-wing propaganda, conservative spin-meistering, political-deception, diversion, redirection and focusing the imagination of an unsuspecting audience in ways that bring about specific outcomes or foster public support for anti-environmental, anti-democratic or pro-business positions," Scott Silver, the executive director of the Bend, Oregon-based environmental group, Wild Wilderness, explained in a recent email.
Luntz. Author of "Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear". He helped Newt Gingrich (*spit!) devise 1994's Contract on with America. He's given us the words "death tax" to replace "estate tax", and "exploring for energy" to replace "drilling for oil". He has a list of 14 words that Republicans and their spouses (yes, the Stepford Wives are in on the spin too) should never use. Luntz wants to appeal to people's emotions - the gut, where the truthiness is felt, not the brain where yanno, logic is. Kinda like Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort's "bypassing the intellect" to convert unsuspecting dumbasses to their religion. In other words, he's a master manipulator. Hey, you have to give a guy props where they're due. Luntz is the best of the diabolical language shapers.
How does Frank Luntz fit into the Canadian Conservative scene? For starters, he grew a playoffs beard. He's been connected with Preston Manning from back in the day. Manning introduced Luntz to the "low-key, yet influential Conservative group" the Civitas Society (of whom Harper chief of staff Ian Brodie is a director and Tom Flanagan is a founder):
Introducing Mr. Luntz yesterday, former Reform party leader Preston Manning praised the work Mr. Luntz had done for him several years ago. During his speech, Mr. Luntz mentioned that he had met with Mr. Harper -- whom he referred to on a first-name basis -- Friday and had posed for a picture together.
Luntz is so caring, so healing, that he wants to massage you. Well not you, but "the message" for you. Doesn't that make you feel good?
During his speech, titled "Massaging the Conservative Message for Voters," Mr. Luntz drew a communications roadmap to bring the Conservatives to a majority government -- a roadmap that Mr. Harper's government already appears to be following in several respects.
A little more to the right, Frank. Oh, and don't forget the fauxsy "we're just like you plebes, really" message massage.
Focus on accountability and tax relief, said Mr. Luntz. Images and pictures are important. Tap into national symbols such as hockey.
"If there is some way to link hockey to what you all do, I would try to do it."
One of the reasons the Progressive Conservative government was decimated in 1993 was because they had strayed from important Conservative principles such as lower taxes, said Mr. Luntz who watched the election results come in that year from Mr. Manning's suite.
Yah, lower taxes, thanks for that whopping 2% cut in the GST. It's really helping me to offset the spiraling price of fuel and food. I'm not too worried about an estate tax in my situation.
Perhaps most notable is Luntz's framing of the global warming issue, adopted by US and Canada, including the use of the words "climate change" instead of scarier "global warming". Wiki link
In a 2002 memo to President George W. Bush titled "The Environment: A Cleaner, Safer, Healthier America", obtained by the Environmental Working Group, Luntz wrote: "The scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science...Voters believe that there is no consensus about global warming within the scientific community. Should the public come to believe that the scientific issues are settled, their views about global warming will change accordingly. Therefore, you need to continue to make the lack of scientific certainty a primary issue in the debate, and defer to scientists and other experts in the field."
Wow, great idea Frank! Just keep repeating over and over and over that the science isn't settled, and the little people will go along. That makes the energy industry very, very happy. If we could get say 500 scientists to refute the current accepted scientific evidence about man's role in global warming, that would be awesome! Oh, except when those scientists were contacted about their names on the document, many were, how should I put this...pissed right off? We'll be exploring that in a later installment of "Think Tank Circle Jerk". For now, back to Slippery Luntz, father of climate change denial language.
An unrepentant Luntz now accepts the actual science on global warming. Heh.
Luntz: "It's now 2006. I think most people would conclude that there is global warming taking place and that the behavior of humans are (sic) affecting the climate."
BBC: "But the administration has continued taking your advice. They're still questioning the science."
Luntz: "That's up to the administration. I'm not the administration. What they want to do is their business. It has nothing to do with what I write. It has nothing to do with what I believe."
Being a conservative means never having to say you're sorry. Or take any kind of personal responsibility. Ever.
